Categories

For parents and family members who discover that their teenager has developed a drug addiction, there can be a lot of anger and confusion. You doubt yourself and wonder if you somehow failed at parenting. You wonder if it’s all downhill into some terrifying Hollywood version of strung out criminals.

It’s all too common to think that you can handle your addiction on your own or that you can somehow muscle your way through it without thinking about how the recovery will all play out. This kind of thinking and poor judgment is often the reason teens wind up relapsing back into their old habits after trying to give up the drugs or alcohol.

You’re friend has been laughing like a maniac for hours and the neighbor girl looked a wreck when she got out of that guy’s car this morning to come home. What’s going on with them? Are they on drugs or what?

Teenagers are the most susceptible age group for a predisposition to trying drugs and alcohol. It’s an experimental time in life when you’re figuring out who you are and what you want to be. Drug experimentation, especially in response to peer pressure, is incredibly common during the adolescent years.

Cocaine is one of those drugs that, despite how dangerous it really is, gets a lot of glory and praise in Hollywood movies and popular music. There’s a cultural image of the hot shot business executive snorting lines of coke before a big score or the rock star pulling lines off a stripper’s cleavage. This is all funny and in good fun but it creates an irresistible pull toward a drug with severe consequences.

Many people think of relapse as the moment when you use again, starting a downward spiral into intoxication. But it’s actually a more elaborate process than that. The key to preventing relapse during your recovery and sobriety from drugs or alcohol is to understand the stages of relapse as they play out in your mind, your body, and your life.